Medieval Institute

Medieval Institute
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5432 USA
(269) 387-8745

Szarmach Article Prize

2026 Competition

Portrait of Paul E. Szarmach.
Paul E. Szarmach

The Richard Rawlinson Center at Western Michigan University announces the eighth Paul E. Szarmach Prize, to be awarded in May 2026. It consists of an award of $500 to the author of a first article on a topic in the culture and history of early medieval England published in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal that is judged by the selection committee to be of outstanding quality.

The Prize, instituted by the International Advisory Board of the center in 2017, honored and since 2021 memorializes Szarmach for his role in the early development of the center, both as director of WMU’s Medieval Institute and on the center’s board.

Eligibility

Authors from any country and articles written in any language are eligible. To be eligible for the 2026 prize, the article must have appeared in a journal bearing a publication date of 2024. The selection committee considers "first article" in the broadest possible terms, and an antecedent publication, depending upon its nature, will not necessarily compromise eligibility. All articles that might be considered eligible should be nominated.

Nomination

Nominations and self-nominations are invited from authors, editors, and readers.

Submission

The deadline for nominations has been extended to November 15, 2025. A nomination comprises:

  • Completed online nomination form
  • Letter of nomination or self-nomination
  • Curriculum vitae of the author
  • PDF of the nominated article

Past Winners of the Paul E. Szarmach Prize

No prize was awarded in 2025.

J-Michel Reaux Colvin: Scoticitas: Reframing 'Scotus' in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, "Viator" 53, no. 2 (2022): 143-77.

Michael Lysander Angerer: Beyond 'Germanic' and 'Christian' Monoliths: Revisiting Old English and Old Saxon Biblical Epics, "Journal of English and Germanic Philology" 120, no. 1 (2021): 73–92.

Katie Menendez: Gregory the Great as Intermediary Figure between East and West: The Eleventh-Century Manuscript Context of the Old English Dialogues, "Viator" 51 (2020): 241-71.

Mary Elizabeth Blanchard: A New Perspective on Family Strategy in Tenth- and Eleventh-Century England: Ealdorman Status and the Church, "Historical Research" 92, no. 256 (May 2019): 244-66.

James Chetwood: Re-evaluating English Personal Naming on the Eve of the Conquest, "Early Medieval Europe" 26, no. 4 (2018): 518-47.

Erin Shaull: Ecgþeow, Brother of Ongenþeow, and the Problem of Beowulf's Swedishness, "Neophilologus" 101 (2017): 263–75.

Erica Weaver: Hybrid Forms: Translating Boethius in Anglo-Saxon England, "Anglo-Saxon England" 45 (2016): 213–38.